He was sure the men at Terra base had figured
it out before they decided that A-bombs would be necessary to throw the
asteroid into a new orbit. He wasn't worried. Cracks in the asteroid
would be dangerous, but he hadn't seen any.
"This rock will take more nuclear blasts than we have," he assured Koa.
He turned his communicator back on and went to the edge of the hole for
a look at Kemp's progress. He was far down now. Pederson was holding one
end of a measuring tape. The other end was fastened to Kemp's shoulder
strap.
The Swedish corporal showed Rip that he had only about eight feet of tape
left. Kemp was almost down. Rip called, "Kemp, when you reach bottom, cut
toward the center. Leave an inverted cone."
"Got it, sir. Be up in two more cuts."
Dominico had connected cable to the bomb terminals and was attaching a
timer to the other end. Without the wooden case, the bomb was like a fat,
oversized can. It had been shipped without a combat casing.
"Koa, make a final check. You can untie the landing boat, except for one
line. We'll be taking off in a few minutes."
"Right, sir." Koa glided toward the landing boat, which was moored out of
sight beyond the horizon.
It was nearly time.
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